Car burns after it’s hit by fragment in TA, but no injuries reported in series of Hamas attacks on center and south; Israel strikes Gaza, pulls out of negotiations for long-term truce

Palestinians head to a United Nations school to take refuge for the night in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanun, just hours before the midnight expiry of a five-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, August 18, 2014. The ceasefire was eventually extended for another 24-hours. (photo credit: AFP/THOMAS COEX)

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the house of Hussam Kawasme, one of three Palestinians identified by Israel as suspects in the killing of three Israeli teenagers, after it was demolished by the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Hebron, Monday, Aug. 18 , 2014. (photo credit: AP/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

A Palestinian man is seen under a blanket and a map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories errected to give shade, as he walks over the rubble of what used to be a family home, in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, on August 18, 2014. (photo credit: AFP/ ROBERTO SCHMIDT)

Suspected key terrorists arrested by the Shin Bet during a sweep of Hamas operatives in May and June, 2014. Details of a Hamas plot to topple the PA and target Israel were revealed on August 18 (photo credit: Shin Bet)

Masked Hamas members burn a cut-out of a Star of David during a Hamas demonstration August 17, 2014 in Rafah, Gaza Strip. (Photo credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The Times of Israel liveblogged events as they unfolded through Tuesday, August 19, the 43rd day of Operation Protective Edge. After a five-day truce expired on Monday at midnight, the sides agreed a 24-hour extension, amid conflicting reports on the progress of talks in Cairo on a long-term Israel-Hamas deal. But rockets from Gaza broke the truce on Tuesday afternoon, Israel quit the talks, and the conflict re-escalated. (Wednesday’s liveblog is here.)

Day 43: Operation Protective Edge

PREAMBLE: As a five-day truce expired at midnight Monday, Israel and the Palestinians apparently agreed another 24-hour truce, amid conflicting reports on progress toward a long-term arrangement in indirect talks in Cairo to end the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Islamic Jihad threatened to resume rocket fire from Gaza, and Israel said it was braced for more violence, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to hit back hard if Israel was targeted.

Earlier Monday, the Shin Bet issued details of what it said was a major terrorist plot by Hamas to topple the PA, spark a third intifada, and carry out a series of terror attacks on Israeli targets.

Here are the key points of our earlier story:

The Shin Bet said it arrested more than 90 Hamas operatives in May and June, confiscated dozens of weapons that had been smuggled into the West Bank, and seized more than &dollar;170,000 aimed at funding attacks. It produced photos of the confiscated weapons and cash and a flowchart of the Hamas operatives who had been questioned, and said they planned a series of massive attacks on Israeli targets, including the Temple Mount, in order to start a widespread conflagration. Indictments are expected to be filed against at least 70 of the suspects.

Terror cells were set up in dozens of Palestinian West Bank towns and villages — including in and around Jenin, Nablus, eastern Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Hebron — the Shin Bet said.

Many of those recruited for the cells were students studying chemistry and engineering, and academics, according to the investigation.

The Shin Ben said the plot was orchestrated by senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, who is based in Turkey and enjoys the support of the local officials there.

Suspected key terrorists arrested by the Shin Bet during a sweep of Hamas operatives in May and June, 2014 (photo credit: Shin Bet)

Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas. It is currently negotiating in Cairo over a ceasefire to formally end the past six weeks of Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Israel-Hamas fighting was preceded by Israeli arrests of hundreds of Hamas members in the West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in June. The Shin Bet said it uncovered the West Bank coup plot due to information gleaned from those arrests.

The three teens — Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel — were slain on June 12 in the West Bank. Their killings were followed by the slaying of a Palestinian youth in what was likely a revenge attack. Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, leading to Israeli airstrikes from July 8 at the start of what was called Operation Protective Edge. Nine days later, Israel sent in ground troops to destroy Hamas’s underground cross-border tunnels constructed for attacks inside Israel.

Detailing what it said was the thwarted bid to topple the PA in the West Bank, the Shin Bet said that Hamas military cells in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, run through headquarters in Turkey, sought to execute a string of attacks against Israel, overthrow the PA, and establish a second front against Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

The Shin Bet revealed that during a three-month operation, it arrested 93 activists and confiscated 24 rifles, six pistols, seven rocket launchers, a large amount of ammunition, a getaway car, and funds amounting to over NIS 600,000 (some &dollar;170,000). It said that the infrastructure for the unusually “severe” string of attacks was based, also, on a “forward front in Jordan.”

Using a network of couriers to Jordan and Turkey, the Shin Bet said, the Hamas activists transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars of funds into the West Bank, with the intention of purchasing arms, and preparing safe houses, warehouses for weapons and laboratories for manufacturing rockets.

The leader of the operation, Riad Nasser, a resident of the village Dir Kadis, was recruited by al-Arouri, the head of West Bank operations for Hamas abroad, the Shin Bet said. Al-Arouri was one of the founders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing

The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff reported in June that, according to an Israeli security official, al-Arouri was behind the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli teens on June 12.

US envoy to UN slams Gaza probe

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, criticized the world body’s panel created to investigate the recent conflict in Gaza.

At a private meeting on Friday with American Jewish communal leaders, Power says the UN’s Human Rights Council “has shown itself incapable of engaging constructively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to one attendee of the meeting.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power (photo credit: AP/Seth Wenig/File)

Power also slammed the commission of inquiry announced last week as “wildly unbalanced,” according to the same source, and said “the process for the appointment of the commissioners was ill conceived, poorly executed and does nothing to dispel the perception of bias within the council.”

The meeting was held at the US mission to the United Nations in New York City.

The commission of inquiry has already drawn stiff criticism from Israel and a number of its allies for including Canadian human rights academic William Schabas as its head. Schabas has criticized both Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in past statements.

Reports of planned Hamas coup in West Bank a ‘threat to Palestinian unity’ says Abbas

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says information revealed earlier today by the Shin Bet suggesting a planned coup by Hamas in the West Bank was “a grave threat to the unity of the Palestinian people and its future,” NRG reports.

The Shin Bet said earlier that, along with the IDF, it uncovered and successfully disbanded a West Bank- and Jerusalem-based Hamas cell, which had planned to topple Abbas and take control of the West Bank.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looks on as he meets with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on July 22, 2014, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (photo credit: AFP/ABBAS MOMANI)

The large-scale operation to thwart the plan, in which 93 Hamas operatives were arrested, took place between May and August 2014, according to the national security agency, but was only released for publication today.

The Hamas cell, which the Shin Bet says operated under the instruction of Hamas leadership in Turkey, had plotted to perpetrate a series of attacks on Israel and thereby destabilize the security situation.

Abbas orders investigation into report of Hamas coup plot

Abbas also indicated the report could severely impact the unity pact signed between Fatah and Hamas in June, saying it represents “a grave threat to the unity of the Palestinian people and its future,” NRG reported.

Hamas denied the report and said it was meant to stir up trouble.

The Shin Bet revealed today earlier that it had uncovered and successfully disbanded a Hamas cell, which had planned to topple Abbas and take control of the West Bank.

The Hamas cell had plotted to perpetrate a series of attacks on Israel and thereby destabilize the security situation.

Israel and the US have already coordinated and agreed on the details of a future agreement for a long-term ceasefire with Hamas, and a gradual lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip, Ynet reports.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is reportedly expected in Israel next week to support the Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the report indicated citing diplomatic sources.

These diplomatic sources tell Ynet that the agreement between Israel and the US on the terms of a deal with Hamas, was reached secretly and entails Israel opening the land crossings into Gaza, followed by sea access, not objecting to the payment of salaries to Hamas men in Gaza and facilitating the reconstruction of Gaza with international aid.

The US, according to the report, will support Israel’s demand to prevent the rearmament of Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, and will help Israel promote this goal in the international sphere. Israel reportely conceded the demand that terror groups in Gaza disarm.

During Kerry’s visit, the PM and the secretary of state are expected to emphasize the close, solid relationship between Israel and the US and say that any disagreements were on specific issues only.

The US and Israel have been publicly at odds, most recently following a Wall Street Journal report that said the US had suspended a shipment of Hellfire missiles to Israel amid worsening ties over fighting in Gaza

12 arrested in West Bank overnight

Israeli forces operating in the West Bank arrested 12 wanted suspects overnight, the IDF says in a statement.

The suspects were transferred for interrogation, the army says

The arrests are the latest in a series of West Bank sweeps by Israeli forces over the last several days, and comes hours after the Shin Bet announced it had uncovered and thwarted a massive Hamas plot in the Palestinian territory to start a third intifada and overthrow the Palestinian Authority.

California protesters say they blocked Zim ship

In Oakland, where protesters have been trying to block a cargo vessel owned by Israel-based Zim Integrates Shipping Services from docking, activists report on Twitter that they have successfully forced workers to back off from trying to unload the ship for a second straight day.

Israeli sources say no lifting of Gaza blockade

Despite Palestinian reports that Israel has agreed to lift the Gaza blockade as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas, Israeli diplomatic officials tell Channel 2 that no such concession has been agreed to.

The officials say that the sides are not considering a wide-ranging deal, but rather a more “narrow” agreement by which Israel will try to make life easier in Gaza in exchange for an end to rocket fire, including by opening land crossings. Should Hamas continue to fight, though, Israel will respond, according to the report.

The report adds that Israel is not considering allowing either a seaport or airfield in the Strip.

Earlier, Israeli news site Ynet reported that Israel and the US have already coordinated and agreed on the details of a future agreement for a long-term ceasefire with Hamas, and a gradual lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Diplomatic sources tell Ynet that the agreement between Israel and the US on the terms of a deal with Hamas, was reached secretly and entails Israel opening the land crossings into Gaza, followed by sea access, not objecting to the payment of salaries to Hamas men in Gaza and facilitating the reconstruction of Gaza with international aid.

The US, according to the report, will support Israel’s demand to prevent the rearmament of Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, and will help Israel promote this goal in the international sphere. Israel reportely conceded the demand that terror groups in Gaza disarm.

PM may have hidden Egyptian proposal from cabinet

Foreign minister and head of the Yisrael-Beytenu party Avigdor Liberman, February 2013 (photo credit: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/ Flash90)

Reports of friction within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet over the weekend emerge, as an unnamed Israeli official tells Haaretz that the prime minister tried to hide the 11-point Egyptian ceasefire proposal, only to be confronted by an angry Avigdor Liberman, Israel’s foreign minister, who pulled out his own copy of the proposal.

Netanyahu reluctantly acknowledged and presented the proposal to the cabinet, telling them that he did not intend to accept it because it failed to address his security demands, the source says, adding that the cabinet did not vote officially but agreed that the proposal was not sufficient.

However, the report puts a spotlight on Netanyahu’s relationship with the cabinet following complaints by unnamed ministers last week that they found out about the extension of the Gaza truce by five days through the media only after it had gone into effect and been violated by terrorist groups in Gaza.

A source close to Liberman confirms that version of events and scoffs at Netanyahu’s attempts to keep him in the dark, saying “the foreign minister has good enough sources to know what’s going on; he doesn’t need the prime minister to update him.”

IDF mulling route change for school-buses in south

Ahead of the school year, which is expected to begin in September, Home Front Command is considering changing the driving routes of school buses in the south in order to make sure children aboard the vehicles are sufficiently protected during potential rocket attacks, Channel 2 reports.

No final decision on the matter has yet been made.

Several schools and kindergartens in southern towns have been rocket-proofed over the summer, the IDF says.

PM to brief cabinet ministers on Cairo talks

‘Israel gave up on demilitarization of Strip’

Ashraf al-Ajrami, the former Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisoners, says the Israeli delegation has given up on its demands to demilitarize the Gaza Strip. According to Ajrami, Israel instead agreed to the installation of an international task force charged with preventing arms from reaching the Strip.

“It is estimated that Israel’s demand may not be realized,” he says during an interview with Army Radio.

“The Israeli side will soon be satisfied with a Hamas that has limited access to arms, and that’s what will end up being the result of the talks in Cairo,” he concludes.

Islamic Jihad ready for deal, but not at any price

Khaled al-Batsh, the Palestinian delegation’s Islamic Jihad representative, says that negotiation efforts in Cairo almost collapsed, before a 24-hour extension of the truce was agreed upon, Ynet reports.

He adds that “the Palestinian delegation is determined to achieve the demands of the Palestinian people and is willing to sign an agreement [with Israel], but not at any price.”

Batsh does not elaborate further.

Palestinians dance while flying a Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement flag reading in Arabic “there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet,” during celebrations in the West Bank city of Ramallah, late Sunday, July 20, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Most schools in south don’t have bomb shelters

‘Israel agrees to ease, not remove, blockade’

Palestinian delegate Qais Abdel-Kareem says discussions have resumed on key issues in Cairo, including Israel’s blockade of Gaza, its demands for Hamas’ disarmament and Palestinian demands for a Gaza port and airport.

The Palestinian ambassador to Cairo, Jamal Shoback, says the Israelis have proposed arrangements that are about “not [fully] removing the blockade but easing it.”

Hamas says no more truce extensions, deal or no

Hamas political official Izzat al-Rishq says the Palestinian delegation will not extend the truce any longer after midnight.

“If they fail to formulate an agreement, the negotiations will end,” Rishq says of the sides engaged in negotiations.

“We are not interested in lengthening negotiations any more,” he adds, according to Ynet. “A significant part of the delegation did not want to extend the truce, up until the last moments [before the truce expired].”

Abbas to meet with Mashaal in Doha

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Doha Wednesday in order to discuss the ceasefire deal with the head of Hamas’s political wing, Khaled Mashaal, AFP reports. Abbas will also convene with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, according to Palestinian Authority ambassador Monir Ghannam.

From Doha, Ghannam says, Abbas will travel on to Cairo as part of contacts the Palestinian leadership is staging “with all the parties concerned” in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, according to AFP.

5 Gazan operatives indicted in Beersheba

Five Gazans arrested during Operation Protective Edge are indicted in the Beersheba District Court. They are accused of attempted murder, various weapons offenses, prohibited military training, contacting a foreign agent, and membership in an illegal organization.

The prosecution seeks to extend their detention until the end of the legal proceedings, Israel Radio reports.

Parents seek to add siblings’ names on soldier’s gravestone

The parents of Li Mat, an IDF paratrooper who was killed in the Gaza Strip, are demanding that his gravestone be inscribed with the names of his siblings, and not only his mother and father’s names, as is customary in army cemeteries.

The Defense Ministry says that although the request does not comply with army guidelines, a special committee will convene in order to discuss the family’s plea.

MK Cabel pours freezing water on his head

Labor MK Eitan Cabel becomes the second Knesset representative to accept the Ice Bucket Challenge, to benefit the ALS Foundation in the fight against Lou Gehrig’s disease, after Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman gleefully poured freezing cold water on his head yesterday

Barefoot and wearing a ragged T-shirt, Cabel can be seen in a video posted on his Facebook page as he showers himself with icy water.

Cabel nominates Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah to do the same.

“I hope you’ve prepared a bucket and that you don’t chicken out, because I dare you,” Cabel tells Shelah in a Facebook post.

Lapid urges Gaza rehabilitation

Israel must establish a committee comprising several regional powers in order to discuss the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, Finance Minister Yair Lapid says, according to Ynet. Lapid also says that the committee must demand that Hamas be demilitarized, and assure that Israel’s security concerns are sufficiently addressed.

“Our demand is quiet and security for the residents of Israel, and it is not for nothing that the delegation to Cairo includes only members with an understating in security,” he says during a visit to the Sapir College near the southern town of Sderot.

More unemployment benefits for southerners

The Labor and Social Affairs Committee determines that the maximum period of eligibility for unemployment insurance offered to residents living in communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip will be extended by up to 25 days.

Under the new ruling, discharged soldiers will be entitled to 95 days instead of 90 days of unemployment, people under the age of 25 will be entitled to 75 days instead of 50 days, people aged 25-28 will be entitled to 92 days instead of 67 today, and people aged 28 to 35 who have a maximum of two family members dependent on them for financial support will be entitled to 125 days of unemployment instead of 100.

IDF soldiers issue hummus challenge

Ice Bucket Challenge out, Hummus Tub Challenge in.

Three IDF soldiers have given a twist to the popular internet meme to benefit the ALS Foundation in the fight against Lou Gehrig’s disease, smearing their faces in pasty hummus instead of pouring freezing cold water on their heads.

The soldiers said the absurd endeavor, which they called Hamas vs. Hummus, was meant to emphasize the many great qualities of the Middle Eastern dip in contrast with the lesser qualities of the Gaza-based terror group.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization that threatens the lives of both Palestinians and Israelis,” 26-year-old Corey Feldman, the brains behind the challenge, says in the video.

“Hummus, on the other hand, is delicious.”

The three urged others to accept the Hamas vs. Hummus challenge as well.

“The Oslo agreement established a ‘Hamastan’ in the south and sent the State of Israel into shelters,” Yishai says, according to the Kikar Hashabbat website.

“The fact that we were a step away from the expansion of Hamastan into areas of the West Bank currently controlled by Mahmoud Abbas should make each and every citizen lose sleep. If, God forbid, Hamas were able to carry out even a small part of its plans, we would’ve been exposed to a massive firing of rockets at Jerusalem and central Israel, with a warning of only about 15 seconds.”

Soldier missing since Sunday

Israeli police issued a request for assistance in locating IDF soldier David Menahem Gordon, 21, who was last seen on Sunday at around noon in the Medical Corps facility in the Zrifin army base.

The missing soldier, as described by police, is 1.70 meters tall (about 5 ft 6), has brown eyes and black, cropped hair. He was dressed in IDF uniform and wore a purple beret. The soldier was carrying a Micro Tavor assault rifle and a large blue and black backpack. Police said the soldier has an American accent.

Hamas spokesman says Israel doesn’t want deal

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri says Israel is responsible for the standstill in the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, Ynet reports. He says Israel “is dragging its feet and shows no desire to reach an agreement.”

Abu Zuhri says Hamas is “prepared to deal with all possibilities and all developments.”

Turks to send Gaza a floating power plant

Turkish shipping company Karadeniz announces that, in light of the energy crisis in the Gaza Strip, it plans to send a mobile, floating power with in order to provide electricity to the coastal enclave.

Karadeniz’s announcement comes after Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that an electricity generating vessel would be sent to Gaza as soon as port facilities in the Strip were upgraded.

Rockets are ‘grave violation’ — PM spokesman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson Mark Regev calls the rocket attack an hour ago a “grave and direct violation of the ceasefire to which Hamas committed itself.” He notes on Twitter that is the “eleventh ceasefire that Hamas has either rejected or violated.”

This is the eleventh ceasefire that Hamas has either rejected or violated.

Reports of explosions near Ashdod, Ashkelon

There are unconfirmed reports of explosions near the southern cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon. They come shortly after rockets were fired at Beersheba, breaking the ceasefire, and Israel instructed the IDF to retaliate.

There is no immediate confirmation of the reports, and no sirens have gone off in either city.

IDF begins strikes on Gaza Strip

The IDF says it’s currently targeting terror sites across the Gaza Strip in response to the rockets fired in the past hour at the southern city of Beersheba, breaking the 24-hour truce extension agreed upon last night.

PM recalls delegates from Cairo talks

The prime minister and defense minister have instructed the Israeli delegation at the Cairo talks to return to Israel because of the ceasefire violation by Hamas, Israel Radio says citing diplomatic sources.

No Gazans reported hurt in Israeli airstrikes

Hamas spokesman hinted at rockets before launch

Shortly before the launch of rockets at Israel, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum hinted at more rocket fire, saying: “If Netanyahu doesn’t understand … the language of politics in Cairo, we know how to make him understand.”

Police sappers reach site of rocket impact

Police sappers are at one of the rocket impact sites near Beersheba, a spokesperson says on Twitter. No injuries or damage were reported in the incident, which effectively broke the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Police bomb disposal expert on site were rocket landed in an open area outside the city of Be'er Sheva. pic.twitter.com/AUPlEom4Ud

IDF carries out 25 strikes on Gaza

‘No progress’ in ceasefire talks, Hamas says

The chief Palestinian negotiator conducting indirect talks with Israel for a long-term Gaza truce says there had been “no progress,” with less than five hours to go before the temporary ceasefire expires.

The Palestinian delegations presented their demands for a truce to Egyptian mediators and were awaiting Israel’s response, says the official, Azzam al-Ahmed.

Sirens in Asheklon coastal region

Rocket hits north of Gaza Strip

Communities within 25 miles of Gaza told to open shelters

The Home Front Command instructs all cities and towns within 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Gaza Strip to open public bomb shelters.

According to GlobalPost correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky, cities in central Israel, far outside the 40 kilometer radius, have already opened their shelters without Home Front Command orders as a precautionary measure.

Not waiting for Home Front command instructions, all central Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, are reopening shelters. #Israel#Gaza

The mayors of the Tel Aviv suburbs of Rishon Lezion, Rehovot, Bat Yam and Ramat Gan ordered the opening of public bomb shelters in their cities because of the possibility of renewed rocket fire at the greater Tel Aviv area, Channel 2 reports. In Holon, another Tel Aviv suburb, shelters are already prepped and open.

Livni calls for heavy blow to Hamas, cooperation with PA

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni says she’s in favor of dealing a heavy military blow to Hamas, but that in order to effect real change in the Gaza Strip Israel needs to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority.

US blames Hamas for ceasefire breakdown

The United States is “very concerned” about the violation of an extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, placing the blame for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip on the shoulders of Hamas, even though no organization has taken responsibility for today’s barrage.

“We are very concerned about today’s development and condemn the renewed rocket fire,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf says at a press briefing.

She notes that the US has confirmed that rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, and that “Hamas has security responsibility for Gaza.”

Harf reiterates that the US supports Israel’s right to defend itself against terror attacks from Gaza.

Hamas radio says 1 killed, 10 injured in Gaza airstrike

Hamas’s Al Aqsa radio tweets that one died and ten were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. Roughly 20 Palestinians are reported injured in total thus far since Israel commenced airstrikes on Gaza following rocket fire that broke the ceasefire.

Report Israel tried to kill senior Hamas man

A Channel 10 reporter says that prior to the recent massive rocket barrage, Israel tried to assassinate a senior Hamas figure in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

Alon Ben-David tweets that Israeli officials refuse to comment on rumors that the target of the assassination attempt was the secretive Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, who survived several Israeli assassination attempts over the years.

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12 arrested in West Bank overnight

Israeli forces operating in the West Bank arrested 12 wanted suspects overnight, the IDF says in a statement.

The suspects were transferred for interrogation, the army says

The arrests are the latest in a series of West Bank sweeps by Israeli forces over the last several days, and comes hours after the Shin Bet announced it had uncovered and thwarted a massive Hamas plot in the Palestinian territory to start a third intifada and overthrow the Palestinian Authority.

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